1. < Spine Health
Profile picture for annie1

How to best choose a spine surgeon?

Posted by annie1 @annie1, Nov 15, 2025

I have a problem in that I have interviewed many surgeons and there are at least two who have very good reviews and I'm having a hard time deciding who to go with. One of the surgeons had one bad review out of all good reviews. The other one had no bad reviews at all. I had a minor surgery/decompression with one of them that was successful only for 4 months and then my symptoms came back. He's very likable guy has great reviews and would do the fusion but I am a little worried since the first time it didn't really stick. It's very hard to decide since I already have a relationship with him and I do like him. Can anyone identify with this kind of dilemma and share a way to choose which surgeon to work on me? I keep getting more recommendations also which you and makes it more complicated.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Spine Health Support Group.

Profile picture for kjoed53
kjoed53 | @kjoed53 | Jun 26 1:50pm

There's good and not so good doctors in every specialty. I had an orthopedic doctor who told me that surgery was only a consideration when I got to the point where I could not stand the pain and the non surgical treatment anymore. The first time I hurt my back I spent 5 months on bed rest until the pain went away. 6 years later, I reinjured it and had a laminectomy the following month. He was conservative but that was 30 years ago when back surgery was not as sophisticated as today. In January this year after 3 months of neck and shoulder pain, x-rays, PT and MRI, I was referred to a neurosurgeon. He started talking surgery on my severely arthritic cervical spine but hesitated and wanted a 2nd opinion. That neurosurgeon didn't think my pain was all spinal related and ordered blood work. It turns out I have PMR. I thank God for conservative surgeons.

REPLY
1 reply
Profile picture for annie1
annie1 | @annie1 | Jun 27 1:52am
In reply to @kjoed53 "There's good and not so good doctors in every specialty. I had an orthopedic doctor who..." + (show)
Profile picture for kjoed53 @kjoed53

There's good and not so good doctors in every specialty. I had an orthopedic doctor who told me that surgery was only a consideration when I got to the point where I could not stand the pain and the non surgical treatment anymore. The first time I hurt my back I spent 5 months on bed rest until the pain went away. 6 years later, I reinjured it and had a laminectomy the following month. He was conservative but that was 30 years ago when back surgery was not as sophisticated as today. In January this year after 3 months of neck and shoulder pain, x-rays, PT and MRI, I was referred to a neurosurgeon. He started talking surgery on my severely arthritic cervical spine but hesitated and wanted a 2nd opinion. That neurosurgeon didn't think my pain was all spinal related and ordered blood work. It turns out I have PMR. I thank God for conservative surgeons.

Jump to this post

@kjoed53
What is PMR? And where was that surgeon and if you can PM me his name I would like to talk to him. I'm having a hard time trusting what I'm told by different surgeons. I put off surgery for 2 years after the laminotomy failed and my pain is in my legs only but it's getting worse. I saw surgeon here in New York last week who told me that I've had this stenosis for a very long time and he wasn't sure how much surgery could help but he thought it could help. The last thing I want to do is go through a long surgery and not have my symptoms at least 50% better and I certainly don't want to get worse. Which I think could happen. So I'm looking for other surgeons who would give me an objective opinion. Thanks very much for any information on the guy who told you that. To direct message me you have to go to my username and send me a message. Thanks

REPLY
Please sign in or register to post a reply.